The present invention relates to shopping stores an in particular to a cashierless shopping store and components for use therein.
Grocery shopping is a task performed by virtually every household at least on a weekly basis but unfortunately can be time consuming and frustrating. When grocery shopping, a shopper typically obtains a cart and then proceeds to walk along the various aisles in the grocery store looking for items on the shelves to be purchased. As a shopper selects items from the shelves, the items are placed or tossed into the basket of the shopping cart.
Once the shopper has finished shopping, the shopper proceeds to a checkout counter. At the checkout counter, the shopper must unload the items in the basket of the shopping cart and place the items on a conveyor belt. A cashier at the checkout counter controls movement of the conveyor belt to bring the items towards a cash register and/or a bar code scanner. The cashier then either enters the price or price code of each item into the cash register or scans the bar code on each item via the bar code scanner and then places the items in disposable plastic or paper bags. Once all of the items have been processed and bagged, the cashier totals the purchased items so that the shopper can pay for them. After payment has been made, the shopper can leave the grocery store with the bags of purchased items.
Unfortunately, this method of shopping has several drawbacks. In particular, when the shopper is walking the aisles looking for items, the items to be purchased are placed or tossed into the basket of the shopping cart as the items are taken from the shelves. This often results in perishable or breakable items being damaged by later selected items that are placed or tossed into the basket of the shopping cart. Also, items placed or tossed into the basket must be unloaded by the shopper at the checkout counter and then placed in bags by the cashier. Since the items must be handled several times, the time needed to complete shopping and the risk of damage to the items is increased.
This method of shopping also suffers drawbacks which affect the grocery store owner. In particular, it is possible for an individual to fill a shopping cart with items and then wheel the shopping cart through an un-manned checkout counter without paying for the items. Also, an individual may switch price tags on items so that a lesser charge is paid for the items. Furthermore, in grocery stores where cashiers must enter item prices or price codes, errors may be made and incorrect amounts charged to the shoppers.
In addition to the above-mentioned drawbacks, the use of disposable plastic or paper bags to hold purchased items results in significant waste typically disposed of via landfill. As will be appreciated, improvements to the shopping process are desired.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel cashierless shopping store and components for use therein.
Broadly stated the present invention provides a cashierless shopping store including portable RF shopping terminals carried by shoppers. Bar codes on purchased items are scanned using an RF shopping terminal before being placed in a shopping cart. The shopping cart detects the weight of items placed therein and conveys the weight information to the RF shopping terminal over an RF communications link. The RF shopping terminal compares the weight information received from the shopping cart with the weight information read from the bar codes. If the weight information does not correlate, the RF shopping terminal signals a controller to activate an alarm. When the shopper wishes to pay for the selected items, the shopping cart is wheeled to a cashierless checkout station. A lifting unit lifts the shopping cart to detect the weight of the purchased items and conveys the weight information to the RF shopping terminal. The RF shopping terminal again compares the weight information received from the lifting unit with the total weight information read from the scanned bar codes. If the weight information correlates, the RF shopping terminal prompts the shopper to enter a debit, credit or smart card into a card reader therein. Once the card is read, the RF shopping terminal prompts the shopper to enter a PIN or password and then generates a financial transaction request. The financial transaction request is conveyed to a network controller over an RF communication link. The network controller in turn conveys the financial transaction request to a financial institution for verification and processing. Once processed and verified, a verification is transmitted back to the network controller which in turn signals a printer to print a receipt and open a gate allowing the shopper to leave with the purchased items.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a cashierless shopping store comprising:
at least one shopping cart into which items to be purchased are placed, said at least one shopping cart including means to detect the weight of items placed therein and means to transmit detected item weight information over a wireless communication link;
at least one portable wireless shopping terminal to accompany said at least one shopping cart and receiving item price and weight information read from items to be purchased prior to placement in said shopping cart, said at least one shopping terminal also receiving the weight information transmitted over said wireless communication link and comparing the read item and transmitted weight information to determine if said weights correlate; and
at least one checkout station including means to detect the total weight of items in said at least one shopping cart and means to transmit detected total weight information over said wireless communication link to said at least one shopping terminal, said at least one shopping terminal comparing the transmitted total weight with the sum of read item weights to determine if said total and sum weights correlate.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of shopping for items comprising the steps of:
scanning item price and weight information concerning items to be purchased;
placing scanned items into a shopping cart;
detecting the weight of each item as each item is placed in said shopping cart; and
comparing the scanned weight information with the detected weight of items placed in said shopping cart to determine if said weights correlate.
In still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a shopping cart comprising:
a wheeled carriage; and
a hopper on said carriage into which items to be purchased are placed, said hopper being partitioned into a plurality of compartments, each of said compartments for receiving a bag into which items may be placed during shopping.
The present invention provides advantages in that the cashierless shopping store allows a shopper to purchase items without the need for a cashier to handle and bag the purchased items. Thus, as the shopper shops, items to be purchased can be sorted and bagged by the shopper xe2x80x9con the goxe2x80x9d avoiding item damage from occurring.
Also, the cashierless shopping store inhibits shoppers from leaving the shopping store without paying for items as well as inhibits shoppers from switching price tags on items.